was, in 1755, moving in the same direction (J. Rae, Life of A. Smith, p. 203); but if not, Tucker's voice was the voice of one crying in the wilderness. (4) There were a few cases in which self-interest, even when exposed to competition, does not promote public interests: (a) profit may be too remote, as in reclaiming bogs, growing timber, and infant industries, where temporary bounties and remissions of taxes were allowable (E. of C., pp. 73, 74); (b) cheapness may involve vice, as in alehouses, which should be limited; (c) learned professions live on the labour of others, and therefore their members should be few (p. 92); (d) bad doctoring is too dangerous, therefore doctors must be selected beforehand by examination (p. 91); (e) in production on a large scale self-interest, by ranging masters and men into hostile camps, leads to mutual suicide, and therefore production ɔn a small scale will alone survive.

He made politics tributary to economics, and wished the colonies to separate from England because trade laws were the only link, and that link was rotten. Burke upheld the trade laws and reviled "the profane herd of those vulgar and mechanical politicians . . who think that nothing exists but what is gross and material " (Speeches on Am. Tax. etc., ed. Selby, pp. 99, 131). Tucker replied with an audacity worthy of COBDEN, that he was proud to belong to the latter class. So too his denunciation of trade wars, and the jealousy of trade (Hume's phrase, 1758), is enlivened by a sentence worthy of Cobden. "A shopkeeper will never get the more custom by beating his customers, and what is true of a shopkeeper is true of a shopkeeping nation (Four Tracts and two Sermons (1774), p. 132; cp. A. Young, Tour in Ireland, ed. 1892, vol. ii. p. 219). Like A. YOUNG and Mr. Goldwin Smith, he combined colonial separatism with Irish unionism, and prophesied in 1785 that the latter event would come to pass in ten or fifteen years (Reflections, p. 33). He knew that slavelabour was costly (Instructions for Travellers, p. 20), and deemed political the handmaid of industrial freedom, but scorned votes, and thought that the levelling disciples of Locke in France were harbingers of revolution (Cui Bono, 1781).

"

Why, then, is Tucker almost unknown? First, he held the views about population which prevailed from FORTREY and Sir W. TEMPLE down to R. PRICE and WALES; and asked, "What is a market but a collection of inhabitants"? wished to refasten some of the old trade fetters on bachelors, and though a champion of strict indoor relief, wished to grant out-relief to large families. His preference for small estates, like BACON and HARRINGTON, small farms and allotments, like PRICE, and his appreciation of the division of labour, are like gleams of sunshine across this gloom. Secondly, his idea that "industry and labour are the only real riches," that "commerce is "the exchange of labour" (Sermon, i. p. 13), and that money is "a certificate of labour" (E. of C., p. 99), is a crude version of PETTY's ideas which Hume and A. Smith refined, but which reappear yet more crudely in R. OWEN, Karl MARX, and the LABOUR EXCHANGE of the 19th century. True, it enabled him to defend machines, and to see clearly what no

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mercantilist saw quite clearly, that domestic and foreign trade are on the same footing with regard to wealth, and that all trade benefits both buyer and seller (ROSCHER, Zur Geschichte der englischen Volkswirthschaftslehre, p. 39), but it proved that his mind was a blank on problems of cost and value. Thirdly, his panacea of taxing luxuries shows that he had not thought out taxation from his new point of view. He was only a "ways and means man. Fourthly, his Brief Essay on the Advantages and Disadvantages which respec tively attend France and England with regard to Trade (1748), reprinted by M'Culloch (loc. cit.), misrepresents the writer's mature opinions (Cui Bono, 3rd ed. p. xiii.); it is but a stepping-stone from Richardson's (?) mercantilist Essay (1744), also reprinted by M'Culloch (loc. cit.) to Tucker's great work, Elements of Commerce and Theory of Taxes (1755); continued in Instructions for Travellers (1757), and second Tract (v. i.). this work is the merest fragment, thrown aside for want of money. Indeed, the Elements have only been privately printed, and the Instructions restate the best portion of his Brief Essay. His other economic works are with a few exceptions pamphlets on questions of the hour; e.g. on naturalisation (Reflections, pt. i. (1751); pt. ii. (1752); Two Letters (1753)); on limiting public-houses (Inquiry into... Low-priced spirituous Liquors (1751)); on opening the Turkey trade (Reflections (1753)); on trade wars and colonial separation (Tract, ii. (1763); iii. (1766); iv. (1774), and v. (1775); Letter to E. Burke (1775); Humble Address (1776); Series of Answers (1776); Dispassionate Thoughts (1780); Cui Bono

And

Letters to

Necker (1781); Plan for a General Pacification (1782); on Ireland (Tract v. (v.s.); Reflections (1785); and extracts in Arguments for and against an Union (1798), and T. B. Clarke, Union or Separation (1799)). TURGOT translated two of these pamphlets, Reflections, pt. ii., and Tract ii.; but they are too polemical to live. The exceptions fall into two classes. (a) Those of passing interest are-Reflections on the ... Low Price of Coarse Wools (1782) (allotments); Manifold Causes of the Increase. . . of the Poor (1760); Bath Soc. for... Agriculture, vol. vi. p. 252 (proposes unions, benefit clubs, etc.); to which M'Culloch adds the anonymous Causes of the Dearness of Provisions (1766) (?) (b) His Tract i. (1758), which arose out of a correspondence with Hume, and Two Sermons (1774) go to first principles. Hume wrote (1752) that a rich nation must lose its riches, because a poor nation can work more cheaply owing to low wages (Essay iii. in Works, vol. iii. p. 310). Tucker answered that if the nation was idle, its riches would "melt like snow in summer"; if the nation had been and was industrious, its fixed and circulating capital-he enumerates the different species, but does not use these words (Tract ii. p. 22)—its skill, division of labour, and the fact that profits must be higher in the poor country, gave the rich country an incalculable advantage, except in unskilled industries like timber-growing. Hume's reference to "the advantage of superior stocks and correspondence" in his sixth Essay (1758), (loc. cit. p. 348), was perhaps inspired by Tucker.

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The argument about high profits was put better in the Brief Essay (ed. M'Culloch, p. 339), but is similar to that on which J. S. MILL relies (Pol. Ec., bk. iii. ch. xxv.). He also adds that in advocating naturalisation he did not wish to attract moneyed

idlers, who only impoverish a nation; and this was the true answer to MANDEVILLE's paradox, which D. HUME (q.v.) had failed to answer (cp. T. B. Clarke, Survey of the Strength and Opulence of Great Britain, 1801, p. 38).

Tucker was one of those who grow with astonishing rapidity up to a certain point, which they As Bristol and the influences of Butler and Hume undoubtedly stimulated, so perhaps Gloucester stunted his spirit.

never pass.

[For philosophic doctrine of self-interest, in Butler, see Hume's Works, ed. Green and Grose, introduction to vol. ii.; in recent writers, see M. Block, Les Progrès de la Science Economique depuis A. Smith (1897), ch. vii.-For Tucker's political ideas, see Leslie Stephen, Hist. of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century.]

J. D. R.

TUNNAGE AND POUNDAGE. See TONNAGE AND POUNDAGE.

TURBOLI, GIAN DONATO (17th century), a Neapolitan writer and merchant and director of the mint at Naples. He discussed money and exchange in several speeches published in different years between 1616 and 1629. All these, except the first, were eventually published in Custodi's collection. Turboli, like many other writers of the day, investigates the causes of the want of specie in the kingdom of Naples, and gives interesting notes on the difficulties of coining in that kingdom.

He especially studies exchange, to which many proposed to fix a legal maximum limit, believing this to be a means of preventing money from leaving the country. Turboli, however, combats these measures, observing that if the rate of exchange was high in Naples, insuperable reasons caused it to be so; and if the rate of exchange was high against the kingdom, and this had deprived it of all coins, this evil was irremediable, as he who owes largely cannot have much ready money, because he is obliged to pay. Turboli's chief merit is his persistent opposition to the suggestions of a legal regulation of the rate of exchange; but his treatment of the subject is far inferior to that of SERRA (q.v.).

Discorso sopra le monete del regno di Napoli, ec., con diverse relationi e copie d' altri discorsi, ec., 1629 [see Fornari, Delle teorie economiche nelle provincie napoletane, 1882.-Gobbi, L' economia politica, ec., 1889].

U. R.

TURGOT, ANNE ROBERT JACQUES TURGOT, BARON DE L'AULNE (1727-1781), one of the noblest and purest figures in history, occupies an important place on the roll of great economists. Endowed with a fine intelligence, nourished and fortified by unwearying assiduity, he became early in life a distinguished scholar, and was elected prior of the Sorbonne in 1749. In that capacity he delivered in 1750 an address on The benefits which Christianity has procured for Humanity, and the same year an

account of The Progress of the Human Mind, in the course of which he predicted as inevitable the separation of the American colonies from the mother-country :- -"Les colonies sont comme des fruits qui ne tiennent à l'arbre que jusqu'à leur maturité: devenues suffisantes à elles-mêmes, elles firent ce que fit depuis Carthage, ce que fera un jour l'Amérique" (Euvres, ii. 66).

He translated from the

Greek, Latin, Hebrew, German, and Italian, and notably, from the English, some of the economic writings of D. HUME and J. TUCKER. He composed French and Latin verse with elegance and facility. His epigram on FRANKLIN has rested famous: Eripuit coelo fulmen sceptrumque tyrannis. The letter on paper money which he addressed to the Abbé de Cicé in 1749, criticising the system of LAW, is his first excursion into economic reasoning. In 1750 he wrote an essay against the metaphysics of BERKELEY, subsequently worked up for the Encyclopédie, and published under the title "Existence." A criticism of Maupertuis's theory of languages similarly formed the basis of an article "Etymologie" in the same collection. In 1751 he quitted the Sorbonne. Conscientious scruples decided him to abandon the ecclesiastical career upon which his family and friends desired to see him enter; and in 1752 he embraced the profession of the magistracy, commencing as conseiller-substitut of the procureur - général. The same year he became conseiller au parlement, and in 1753 maître des requêtes. In 1756 he followed up his articles in the Encyclopédie with three others, Expansibilité," "Foires," and "Fondations," the last two of economic interest. He opposes exclusive privileges of fairs and markets, and pleads for liberty for commerce to find its own channels, supporting his views by reference to GOURNAY, "to whom France will perhaps some day owe the destruction of obstacles which have been imposed upon the progress of trade in the vain hope of encouraging it." To the argument that fairs facilitate the collection of taxes upon articles sold for export, he replies that it would be wiser to exempt such goods from taxes altogether, and points out that a reduction of duties by stimulating trade and consumption, and reducing the cost of collection, may result in a larger net revenue. His criticisms of "foundations," are, though much fuller and deeper, in many respects similar to those to which twenty years later Adam SMITH gave utterance. The vanity of founders, their want of foresight, the social dangers of illadvised charity, the degeneration of worthy objects, are vividly brought out. Self-help, and freedom to exercise one's own faculties, are conditions of a healthy society. But none the less, voluntary effort, individual or combined, in relief of suffering, is a duty incumbent upon all citizens. The poor have incontestable claims upon the abundance of the rich. Religion and

humanity call upon us to succour our fellows in distress. But in all things public utility is the supreme law, and ought not to be held in check by superstitious respect for the "intentions of founders." "If there were a tomb for every man who has lived, it would be necessary, in order to find land for cultivation, to sweep away these barren monuments and stir the ashes of the dead to provide subsistence for the living" (Euvres, iii. 255). The order for the suppression of the Encyclopédie and its partisan reputation for agnosticism induced Turgot to abandon his intention of contributing further articles to the great dictionary, which was continued clandestinely. His translations of English writings upon trade deepened his intimacy with Trudaine and Gournay. In 1755 and 1756 he accompanied Gournay, then intendant of commerce, upon his official travels throughout the country, and was made to see the ramified mischief wrought by excessive and ill-judged state regulation, often inspired by interested motives, and "putting the poor still more at the mercy of the rich." In 1759 Gournay was cut off by death, and Turgot wrote his Eloge de M. de Gournay, a memoir struck out in a few days to assist Marmontel to deliver an official oration at the academy. This tract furnishes almost the only account we at present possess of that eminent precursor of the French school. It sets forth with conviction the eagerness of Gournay for a LAISSEZ-FAIRE policy, and warmly praises his large views and clear principles of freedom of enterprise.

In 1761 Turgot was nominated intendant for the generality of Limoges. Confronted by obstacles almost insurmountable, he applied himself with equal vigour and intelligence to the solution of the most difficult problems of administration. The district was poor. Its finances were in a state of chaos. The intendant's duty was to raise from his generality a certain sum, fixed annually, for the royal treasury, and to apportion the amount between the several localities. Part of the district had been surveyed in 1738; but such of these records as had been preserved were faulty or out of date. Estimates of wealth were framed upon different principles-gross revenue being sometimes reckoned as net income-and as regards the unsurveyed portion of the generality, the declarations of owners approximated to the truth with widely varying degrees of accuracy. No record was kept of changes of ownership, or other essential circumstances. To remove the glaring anomalies which resulted, and to eliminate as far as possible the arbitrary element from future apportionments, Turgot undertook the immense task of a complete survey. Another of his first steps (1762-1764) was to abolish the CORVÉE, and to replace it by the milder and more convenient burden of a highway rate based upon the TAILLE. So great

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was the mistrust entertained towards the government, that it would have been difficult to raise such a rate directly, for the peasants could feel no confidence that the money would not be diverted to some other purpose, and the roads left unmended. He ingeniously proposed that the parishes should have the work executed by contractors, and the cost deducted from the quota of contribution due from the parishes to the treasury. This bold reform, which Turgot executed by an ordonnance transgressing the strict limits of legality, was an unqualified success, and paved the way for the confidence and popularity which he subsequently enjoyed throughout his district.

In 1770-71 he found his generality menaced by famine. Rigorously enforcing the unfettered movement of corn within the district, he trusted with confidence to an influx of corn and to its commercial distribution where it was most required, as evidenced by the height of prices. At the same time he borrowed 20,000 francs, and, adding to these from his own resources, and from government subventions, he undertook public works to provide the poor with employment, and the means wherewith to purchase food. At this period he addressed to Terray, then controller-general, seven letters on the corn trade, of which three are lost. In these letters he examined the ill effects of legal restrictions upon the free circulation of corn throughout the country, and strenuously pleaded for free trade. The success which attended his abolition of the Corvée for repairs of the roads encouraged him next to abolish the corvée for the forced transport of troops and war material. The peasants, employing large numbers of slow oxen and small chariots in this service at times when their harvests urgently required them at home, were greatly benefited by a change which allowed them to pay in money a contractor who conducted the transport by horses at a quarter of the old charges. A similar reform was executed with regard to billeting. He successfully resisted the attempt to impose upon his district a new corvée-the hauling of boats laden with admiralty timber along the Charente. His enquiries into the wealth of his generality enabled him also to claim with success a diminution in its quota of national taxation. His unwearied efforts to promote the welfare of the people rendered him truly popular. He established veterinary schools; encouraged the society of agriculture of which he was president; introduced the potato, clover, and artificial grasses; stimulated new industries or new processes in the manufacture of paper and in tanning; and by his active and enlightened administration greatly contributed to the prosperity of his district. Particular occasions upon which it became necessary for the government to consult him drew from his able pen reports in which the

great lines of important economic principles were boldly laid down. Such are his memoir on mines and quarries (the economic and legal aspects of free mining) and his study of the laws of interest (a defence of free trade in capital). He suggested to the society of agriculture that it should offer a prize for an essay upon the advantages of employing horses as compared with oxen, and upon the effects of indirect taxes on the revenue of landowners. The latter of these offers drew forth the works of SAINT PÉRAVY and GRASLIN.

Two young Chinamen, who had been brought to France and educated by Jesuits, were sent back to Canton with a royal annuity, to maintain a correspondence upon the state of literature and science in China. Turgot wrote for them in 1766 a little treatise on political economy, which was published in the EPHEMERIDES (Nov. 1769 to Jan. 1770) under the title of Réflexions sur la Formation et la Distribution des Richesses -his most considerable work in economic speculation. In 1774, to the great regret of his district, which he had thrice refused to leave for promotion to other generalities, he was called to the court of the new king (Louis XVI.), and made secretary of state for the navy, a post which he held for only five weeks before being appointed controller-general and minister of finance (24th August). DUPONT DE NEMOURS, giving a striking account of Turgot's maritime programme and of his enlightened views upon colonial policy, thinks it perhaps regrettable for France that Turgot had not remained in the less political office of the admiralty, to carry out the extensive proposals which his fertile brain had already framed. Entering upon his new duties, he stated the principles by which he intended to be guided in the most difficult of offices, and summarised them in a striking letter to the king in which he lays down three cardinal propositions, point de banqueroute, point d'augmentation d'impôts, point d'emprunts; expenses are to be kept below receipts and debts reduced, or the first cannon shot will force the state to financial ruin. The king is urged to favour economy, and to be firm against the clamour of those who resist it, for the good of his people must be his primary consideration; and those who wish to dip their hands into the treasury must remember that the revenues of the state are provided with difficulty by the humblest subjects, and that the king has no right to deprive these of subsistence to gratify even his dearest dependents. This bold appeal is as remarkable for its foresight as for its courage. Turgot clearly saw that those who profited by laxity and abuse would make a desperate fight against reform, and he endeavoured to strengthen the king's good intentions by timely warning and advice. The royal expenses for 1775 were estimated to exceed the revenne by over 22,000,000

livres, and upwards of 78,000,000 livres had been expended in anticipation. Pensions were three or four years in arrear, and each depart ment was heavily in debt. Nevertheless Turgot did not hesitate to abolish or diminish various onerous charges upon the public, and to devote a sum of 15,000,000 towards the immediate payment of arrears due from the state. He purified the financial administration, checked the growth of parasitic croupiers who drew a kind of royal pension from the FARMERSGENERAL, himself refused from them the customary commission of 100,000 crowns on a new lease and 50,000 a year, and thus secured for the state better terms than his predecessors

at once increasing the revenue and diminish. ing the expenditure. On the 25th September 1774 he issued a decree permitting free trade in corn within the country, but not its export. The bad harvest of the following autuma assisted Turgot's enemies in their efforts to foment corn riots throughout the country, a a protest against the new policy; but the disturbances were firmly quelled, and the government showed its spirit and reassured commerce by promptly paying 50,000 francs to a merchant for a cargo of corn which had been thrown overboard by the mob. Du Pont asserts that the really serious result of this disorder was not merely the loss of money (610,000 francs) spent in repressing it, but especially the waste of valuable time which prevented Turgot from putting into execution his matured plans for

an

extensive reform of local government, decentralising a large measure of power and responsibility into the hands of local elected authorities. The riots delayed the prosecution of this scheme for six weeks, and made it impossible to carry through the necessary preliminary stages by October, when the finances of the year were regulated. This compelled the plan to be delayed a whole year, and Turgot was not destined to have another opportunity for carrying it out. The abundant details which we possess of his administration illustrate the clearness, courage, consistency, and integrity of his views. Unfettered liberty, unspotted honesty, were to him the ideal requirements for promoting the financial and social welfare of the nation, and he revised with much shrewdness, to the great profit of the treasury, the financial bargains concluded with farmers-general and others by his less scrupulous or less enlightened predecessors. The credit of the state revived. The rate of interest on loans to government fell in twelve months from 5 to 4 per cent, and a large measure of conversion by aid of a loan from Holland, was in preparation by Turgot when he fell, and a great programme of many and far-reaching measures, calculated to promote the greatest benefits to the country, came to an untimely end.

The reforming zeal of Turgot had stirred up